Fighting in ice hockey
Fighting is an established tradition in North American ice hockey, with a long history that involves many levels of amateur and professional play and includes some notable individual fights. Fights may be fought by enforcers, or "goons" —players whose role is to fight and intimidate—on a given team, and are governed by a system of unwritten rules that players, coaches, officials, and the media refer to as "the code". Some fights are spontaneous, while others are premeditated by the participants. While officials tolerate fighting during hockey games, they impose a variety of penalties on players who engage in fights.
Unique among North American professional team sports, the National Hockey League and most minor professional leagues in North America do not eject players outright for fighting but major European and collegiate hockey leagues do, and multi-game suspensions may be added on top of the ejection. Therefore, the vast majority of fights occur in the NHL and other North American professional leagues. Fighting in women's ice hockey is rare but not unknown.
Physical play in hockey, consisting of allowed techniques such as checking and prohibited techniques such as elbowing, high-sticking, and cross-checking, is linked to fighting. Although often a target of criticism, it is a considerable draw for the sport, and some fans attend games primarily to see fights. Those who defend fighting in hockey say that it helps deter other types of rough play, allows teams to protect their star players, and creates a sense of solidarity among teammates. The debate over allowing fighting in ice hockey games is ongoing. Despite its potentially negative consequences, such as heavier enforcers knocking each other out, administrators at the professional level have no plans to eliminate fighting from the game, as most players consider it essential. Most fans and players oppose eliminating fights from professional hockey games, but considerable opposition to fighting exists, and efforts to eliminate it continue.
History
Fighting has been a part of ice hockey since the sport's rise in popularity in 19th century Canada. There are a number of theories behind the integration of fighting into the game; the most common is that the relative lack of rules in the early history of hockey encouraged physical intimidation and control. Other theories include the poverty and high crime rates of local Canada in the 19th century. There was also an influence from working-class lacrosse players, who transitioned to ice hockey when lacrosse adopted an amateur-only policy in Canada, and who were accustomed to a violently aggressive form of play. The implementation of some features, such as the blue lines in 1918, actually encouraged fighting due to the increased level of physical play. Creation of the blue lines allowed forward passing, but only in the neutral zone. Therefore, puck handlers played at close quarters and were subject to a great deal of physical play. The emergence of enforcers, who protected the puck handlers and fought when necessary, followed shortly thereafter.File:MLG 1931w.jpg|thumb|left|Cover of a 1931 programme guide for Maple Leaf Gardens, showcasing both the National Hockey League and boxing.
In 1922, the NHL introduced Rule 56, which formally regulated fighting, or "fisticuffs" as it was called in the official NHL rulebook. Rather than ejecting players from the game, as was the practice in amateur and collegiate hockey, players would be given a five-minute major penalty. Rule 56 and its language also filtered down to the minor professional and junior leagues in North America. Promoters such as Tex Rickard of Madison Square Garden, who also promoted boxing events, saw financial opportunities in hockey fights and devised marketing campaigns around the rivalries between various team enforcers.
In the current NHL rulebook, the archaic reference to "fisticuffs" has been removed; fighting is now governed under Rule 46 in the NHL rulebook. Referees are given considerable latitude in determining what exactly constitutes a fight and what penalties are applicable to the participants. Significant modifications from the original rule involve penalties which can be assessed to a fight participant deemed to have instigated the fight and additional penalties resulting from instigating a fight while wearing a face-shield.
Although fighting was rarer from the 1920s through the 1960s, it was often brutal in nature; author Ross Bernstein said of the game's early years that it "was probably more like rugby on skates than it was modern hockey." Star players were also known to fight for themselves during the Original Six era, when fewer teams existed than in later years. However, as the NHL's expansion in the late 1960s created more roster spots and spread star players more widely throughout the league, enforcers became more common. Multiple fights during the era received significant media attention. In an NHL preseason game between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues in 1969, Bruins defenceman Ted Green and Blues left wing Wayne Maki engaged in a bloody stick-swinging fight. The fight, initiated by Maki, resulted in Green sustaining a skull fracture. In 1978, World Hockey Association Birmingham Bulls enforcer Dave Hanson, known for his 11-year professional career, fought Hall of Famer Bobby Hull and in the process got Hull's wig caught in his knuckles. The incident landed Hanson in the news, and irate Winnipeg fans attempted to assault him on his way out of the arena. Hanson appeared in the 1977 movie Slap Shot, a comedy about hockey violence.
The rise of the "Broad Street Bullies" in the 1973–74 and 1974–75 Philadelphia Flyers served as an example for future NHL enforcers. The average number of fights per game rose above 1.0 during the 1980s, peaking at 1.17 in 1983–84. That season, a bench-clearing brawl broke out at the end of the second period of a second-round playoff matchup between the Quebec Nordiques and the Montreal Canadiens. A second bench-clearing brawl erupted before the third period began, provoked by the announcement of penalties; a total of 252 penalty minutes were incurred and 11 players were ejected. This game is commonly referred to as the Good Friday Massacre.
North American competitive amateur leagues serve as a training ground and emulate the practices and conduct of professional leagues. Around age 12 players begin to be chosen for size and toughness, play becomes rough, and less-violent players drop out in large numbers. 34% of Toronto amateur skaters aged 12–21 reported being in at least one fist-fight during the 1975–76 season with the likelihood of fighting increasing with player age and competitive level. Coaches of the time trained players to fight in self-defence or against players who commit flagrant fouls. Players did not consider fist-fights to be, reserving this term for acts which were more likely to cause injury. Among professional players, those who refused to fight were seen as untrustworthy and a challenge to team morale and such players could gain a reputation for being easily intimidated. Those who fought excessively were seen as displaying a lack of judgement and "game sense".
Many NHL teams signed enforcers to protect and fight for smaller offensive stars. Fights in the 1990s included the Brawl in Hockeytown in 1997, in which the Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings engaged in nine fights, including bouts between Darren McCarty and Claude Lemieux and goaltenders Patrick Roy and Mike Vernon. The following year, a game between the Avalanche and Red Wings involved a fight between goaltenders Chris Osgood and Roy after which they received minor, major, and game misconduct penalties. In 2004, a Philadelphia Flyers – Ottawa Senators game resulted in five consecutive brawls in the closing minutes of the game, including fights between many players who are not known as enforcers and a fight between Flyers goaltender Robert Esche and Senators goaltender Patrick Lalime. The game ended with an NHL record 419 penalty minutes, and an NHL record 20 players were ejected, leaving five players on the team benches. The officials took 90 minutes to sort out the penalties that each team had received.
By 2009–10, the number of fights in the NHL declined to.58 per game. A further decrease in the frequency of fighting happened over the next five seasons. The 2014–15 season had 0.32 fights per game, as teams placed a greater emphasis on skating ability and fewer young players became enforcers.
Rules and penalties
Rules of the NHL, the North American junior leagues, and other North American professional minor leagues punish fighting with a five-minute major penalty. What separates these leagues from other major North American sports leagues is that they do not eject players simply for participating in a fight. However, fighting is frequently punishable by ejection in European leagues and in Olympic competition.The rulebooks of the NHL and other professional leagues contain specific rules for fighting. These rules state that at the initiation of a fight, both players must definitely drop their sticks so as not to use them as a weapon. Players must also "drop" or shake off their protective gloves to fight bare-knuckled, as the hard leather and plastic of hockey gloves would increase the effect of landed blows. Players should not remove their own helmet before engaging in a fight due to risk of head injury or else both of the opposing players get an extra two penalty minutes. Players must also heed a referee warning to end a fight once the opponents have been separated. Failure to adhere to any of these rules results in an immediate game misconduct penalty and the possibility of fines and suspension from future games. In the NHL, when a player is fined, his lost pay goes towards the NHL emergency assistance fund. A fined coach's lost pay goes to the NHL Foundation.